Wendell Pierce, star of HBO's "Treme" and a New Orleans native, says in an interview by The Hollywood Reporter that neighborhood grocery Circle Food Store helped to inspire his supermarket business. He also discusses the impact of "Treme" on the community and how it felt to meet President Obama at the White House.

Ted Jackson/The Times-PicayuneWendell Pierce, star of the HBO series "Treme," grew up in New Orleans' Pontchartrain Park.

Pierce says:

"There was an iconic store in New Orleans that was at the heart of the African American community for decades, Circle Food Store, which still, to this day, has not reopened. And I thought we should reopen Circle Food Store. That would mean so much more than any political statement. It would say, truly the community is back. We realized we were all on the same page and Sterling Farms was created."